Samuel vanstone



v S. VANSTONE.

DBVIGE FOR MAKING GLEW THIMBLES.

Patented Dec. 13,1881,

WITNESSEE: |NVENTORI mun-0 m UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL VANSTONE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

DEVICE FOR MAKING CLEW-THIMBLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,003, dated December13, 1881, Application filed October 29, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL VANSTONE, of the city and county ofProvidence, and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and ImprovedMethod of and Apparatus for Making Olew-Thimbles; and I hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification.

This invention has reference to improvements in the art ofbending orforming the clewthimbles used in rope where a loop is formed, so as toprevent the wearing of the rope.

The invention consists in the novel manner of bending the metal, so asto facilitate the closing of the clew-thimble, as will be more fully setforth hereinafter.

Figure 1 is a view of two presses or stamps arranged to form thimbles.The followers are shown as operated by means of screws; but. they may beoperated in any of the manners stamps or similar devices are operated.Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line A of Fig. l, and Fig. 3 asectional view on the line B of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a view of the thimbleafter being subjected to stamping in the firstdie and follower, thecentral portion, 0, being left in the original flat condition, whereasthe two ends 99 are fully formed. In this form the clew-thimble iseasily bent into the complete form shown in Fig. 5.

The state of the art previous to my invention is as follows: The blank,consisting of a strip of sheet metal, is first bent so as to form asemicircular channel. It is now heated and the central semicircularbendis made, as shown in broken lines in Fig. 5. It is now again heated andthe two ends closed in; or by an improved process the thimble isstamped,while hot, out of the strip into the form indicated by brokenlines in Fig. 5--that is, with the central semicircular portion formedand the two sides ready for closing in. In either of these methods theclosing of the thimble is a difficult operation, as the metal on theinner portion of the thimble'has to be upset, and the metal on the edgesconsiderably stretched, to allow of the closing of the thimble, and itwas always necessary to heat the metal twice before the thimble could becompleted. By my improved process the metal on the inner portion of thethimble is but little compressed or upset, and thimbles may be readilymade with one heat, and out of good homogeneous metal,

they can be readily bent cold, and a more perfect thimble-clew produced.

In the drawings, a, Fig. 1, is the die, and b the follower, sliding inproper guides. It will be seen that at the central portion, 0, the stripof metal is left in its original condition, and that it would nowreadily bend at this point.

d is the second die, in which the central portion is bent by the doublefollower c, and at the same time the thimble is closed, guided by thefollower, so that the ends g y will firmly meet, as shown in Fig. 5. Thefollower e is made in two parts, secured together so as to be readilyopened for the purpose of withdraw ing the thimble. It is shown ashinged and provided with a handle, but may be arranged to open and closeautomatically, if desired, and it may be made to pass between fixedslides when closing the thimble.

h represents the fixed slide, slightly beveled so as to allow thefollower to enter freely.

'By this device the thimble may be formed cold or in the heated state,and as the width of the die and followera bis the length of the stripthe beveled ends will be always in their proper position, and will meetfairly when the thimble is closed. Much time and labor are saved in themanufacture, and a better thimble is produced.

Having thus described myinvention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent 1. As an improvement in the art of manufacturingthimble-clews, this step, namely: bending the two sides of thethimble-clew and leaving a part of the central portion unbent until thethimble is to be clcseil, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

2. The improvement in the art of lnanufacturing clew-thimbles, the sameconsisting in bending the sides in suitable dies, leaving a portion ofthe center unbent, and then bending the center in another die, and alsoclosing the thimble-clew, as described.

3. The combination, with the die a, of the follower 11, arranged tooperate substantially as described.

4. The combination, with the die d, of the follower 0, arranged to bendthe center of the thimble and close the same, as described.

' SAMUEL VANSTONE.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM L. Ooor, J. A. MILLER, Jr.

